Abstract PD1-06: Black patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) have enriched stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) and receive preferential benefit from neoadjuvant immunotherapy
Authors: Shane R. Stecklein, Rachel Yoder, Roberto Salgado, Joshua M. Staley, Anne O’Dea, Lauren Nye, Manana Elia, Deepti Satelli, Gregory Crane, Richard McKittrick, Andrew K. Godwin, Qamar Khan, Priyanka Sharma
Journal: Cancer Research (2023)

Abstract Introduction TNBC is overrepresented in Black women, and Black patients with TNBC have worse clinical outcomes compared to non-Black patients. This disparity likely results from racial differences in clinical, biological, and demographic features of TNBC and social determinants of health. Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy is current standard of care for high-risk TNBC. However, Black patients have been poorly represented in immunotherapy TNBC trials, making it difficult to assess comparative efficacy of immunotherapy in Black patients. Methods We utilized two TNBC neoadjuvant trials to assess racial differences in the tumor immune microenvironment composition and evaluate impact of race on response to chemotherapy vs chemoimmunotherapy. NeoSTOP trial (NCT02413320) randomized 100 stage I-III TNBC patients to receive neoadjuvant carboplatin/paclitaxel + doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (CbP+AC) or carboplatin/docetaxel (CbD). NeoPACT trial (NCT03639948) enrolled 120 patients with stage I-III TNBC who received neoadjuvant CbD + pembrolizumab (CbD+P). sTILs were centrally quantified, and RNA extracted from pretreatment tissue was subjected to next-generation sequencing. Relative leukocyte fractions were computed by CIBERSORTx. Factors were tested as predictors of pathologic complete response (pCR) using logistic regression analysis. Event-free survival (EFS) was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared between groups by log-rank test, followed by Cox regression analysis. Results The study population includes 197 patients with known race, sTILs, and gene expression data (84 patients from NeoSTOP, 113 from NeoPACT). 15/84 (18%) patients in NeoSTOP and 20/113 (18%) patients in NeoPACT self-reported Black race. There was no significant difference in age, T or N stage, or germline BRCA1/2 mutation status by race in either study. Black patients had significantly higher sTILs than non-Black patients (median 40% vs 15%, P=0.048) and were more likely to have ≥20% sTILs than non-Black patients (66% vs 44%, P=0.026). There was no significant difference in pCR by race in NeoSTOP (OR=0.60, 95% CI 0.19-1.84, P=0.37; pCR 47% for Black vs 59% for non-Black). In contrast, in NeoPACT, Black patients had a significantly higher pCR compared to non-Black patients (OR=3.27, 95% CI 1.01-10.64, P=0.049; pCR 79% for Black vs 53% for non-Black). In NeoSTOP, EFS was similar for Black and non-Black patients (3-year EFS 92% and 94%, respectively, HR=0.88, 95% CI 0.11-7.28, P=0.90). In NeoPACT, EFS was numerically higher in Black vs non-Black patients (3-year EFS 93% and 81%, respectively, HR=0.43, 95% CI 0.05-3.36, P=0.40); NeoPACT survival follow-up is ongoing at the time of this report. On CIBERSORTx analysis, Black patients had relative depletion of immunosuppressive pro-tumorigenic M2 macrophages (P=0.005) and CD4+ memory resting T cells (P=0.021) compared to non-Black patients. Conclusions Compared to non-Black patients, Black patients with TNBC are more likely to have immune-enriched tumors with lower relative abundance of immunosuppressive leukocytes. These findings suggest potential for higher relative magnitude of benefit from checkpoint inhibitor therapy in Black compared to non-Black patients. Supporting this biological hypothesis, we noted that Black and non-Black patients had equivalent rates of pCR with neoadjuvant chemotherapy; however, pCR rate among Black patients was significantly higher than in non-Black patients when treated with neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. These findings should be confirmed in other studies and can optimize utilization of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. Our findings also underscore the importance of efforts to address disparity in access and use of immunotherapy in Black patients. Citation Format: Shane R. Stecklein, Rachel Yoder, Roberto Salgado, Joshua M. Staley, Anne O’Dea, Lauren Nye, Manana Elia, Deepti Satelli, Gregory Crane, Richard McKittrick, Andrew K. Godwin, Qamar Khan, Priyanka Sharma. Black patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) have enriched stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) and receive preferential benefit from neoadjuvant immunotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PD1-06.